For a long time, the black youth Carl (Cuba Gooding Jr.) has always regarded becoming a member of the US Navy as his lifelong ideal. However, when he really joined the Navy, Carl found that the reality was far less beautiful than he imagined. In the army where racial discrimination prevails, Carl has naturally become the object of harm and exclusion by everyone, but Carl, who has a tough personality, has not retreated or discouraged. On the contrary, he has proved that a person's success and failure have nothing to do with skin color through a hundred times more efforts and outstanding achievements than others. The appearance of Bill (Robert DeNiro) made Carl determined to join the submarine search and rescue team. However, there has never been a precedent for black people to join this team with white supremacist nature. After nearly two years of unremitting efforts, Carl finally joined the submarine team's training plan and eventually became one of them. At the same time, the tension between him and Bill has also undergone a qualitative change due to an unfortunate accident.